If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Re: discussion of the ending of 1922 [spoilers]

IT's a combo of #2 & #3. Only he could see the ghosts of Arlette and the rats, but they were real. He repeats in the story over and over that it is his final confession and he has no reason to lie anymore. This leads one to assume his knowledge of Hank's activities leading to he and Shan's death, before they took place, was true and honest. That is the key piece of the mystery of whether it was true or the dream of an insane man. Since we know as the reader he was honest, we have to assume that it was all real, save the fact only he could see the ghosts because they belonged to him.

Re: discussion of the ending of 1922 [spoilers]

I don't see how his insanity precludes the reality of the rats.

There's a very Tell-tale Heart vibe to this story . . . "Why would you say that I'm mad?"

Wilf spends an inordinate amont of time trying to convince us that he's perfectly rational -- which a madman would certainly do -- but I tend to agree with hossenpepper. The horrors are no less "real" even if they do exist only in the protagonist's mind . . . which I don't believe they do. There are an awful lot of scary things in the world that are no less "real" for the fact that you and i can't see them.

Re: discussion of the ending of 1922 [spoilers]

Originally Posted by hossenpepper

IT's a combo of #2 & #3. Only he could see the ghosts of Arlette and the rats, but they were real. He repeats in the story over and over that it is his final confession and he has no reason to lie anymore. This leads one to assume his knowledge of Hank's activities leading to he and Shan's death, before they took place, was true and honest. That is the key piece of the mystery of whether it was true or the dream of an insane man. Since we know as the reader he was honest, we have to assume that it was all real, save the fact only he could see the ghosts because they belonged to him.

I tend to lean towards this conclusion as well. I don't think anyone else could see the rats but Wilf, but something must have happened with Arlette for him to have known about Hank. They found Hank and Shannon dead where Wilf thought they would be found, so that makes me believe Arlette must have told him. Unless of course, he was right off the deep end and imagined all the news stories about Hank as well as the business with the rats. But I don't really buy that.

There is also, of course, the self fulfilling prophecy. Once things started to go bad he blamed it on Arlette and then began to believe she was doing it all, and as such things kept going wrong. I think this may have played a bit of a factor too.

Re: discussion of the ending of 1922 [spoilers]

Re: discussion of the ending of 1922 [spoilers]

number 2 and i'll tell you why. reason 1 was like one of the posters here said earlier, he knew what was happening to his son because his dead wife told him in great detail. reason number 2 though, which nobody mentioned. The poor cow who broke her legs on the stairs after running out of the house. it said in the book that something in the house had to have spooked the cow into running out of the house and breaking it's legs on the stairs, and that was the rats.

Re: discussion of the ending of 1922 [spoilers]

Siince it's SK, I guess it'd make sense to lean more towards 2 than 3, but there's one problem I have with nr 2 - this might sound petty or weird, but shouldn't the authorities be able to tell the difference between a bite from a rat and one which was self-inflicted? I got bitten by a rat once and even though it hurt like Hell, it was quite the small wound. So, I'm going for nr 3.

Re: discussion of the ending of 1922 [spoilers]

Okay this is making me very sad because it is SK. The bite from the rat got infected so bad that it caused his hand to need to be amputated. I don't think that would've happened had he bit himself. Also I personally think that everything was true. The conspiracy that the slaughterhouse lawyers had gotten to the bank. Everything. Wilf knew what was going on, and the rats did too. They were her minions, I'm not going to say it didn't have a Poe feel to it, but I felt like it was a ghost story. It even says so in the narrative several times. I remember a SK short story about an oil slick that hypnotized and then ate people, by that standard 1922 seems downright realistic even if you pick door number 2 or 4.

Also I got the feel from the book that he really wanted to make it right so it all had a very realistic feel anyway (all four stories) but I mean, that deal with the devil, the BTK murders told from the wife's perspective, it's scary. Delusions aren't scary like ghosts, at least not for me, but thinking about fighting with my wife to the point of murder and then being haunted is scary.

Re: discussion of the ending of 1922 [spoilers]

One of the great things about King's writing is that he leaves a lot to the reader's imagination. I'm not sure if there is one correct answer to the question. If asked, Mr. King might say they are all correct.